Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Gameweek 24 Preview

Firstly, an apology for the lack of preview last week. Work commitments along with the short game left me caught short. Hopefully everyone was aware of United and City's absence and planned accordingly while picking a captain become somewhat trickier with the likes of Rooney and Tevez absent.

The headline game of week 24 will of course be the clash at the Emirates between Arsenal and United, which is probably the biggest game of the season so far. Fantasy wise I don't love the game with these games tending to have a couple of goals and a lack of clean sheets (the only clean sheets in this fixture since 2002 have been the 0-0 in 2005/06). Four more teams have double gameweeks with the highlight of course being league leaders Chelsea who have a pair of road games against two of the weaker sides in the division (though both have actually been decent at home). Double gameweeks are going to play a massive part of the remainder of the season with no less than 14 scheduled over the next 7 gameweeks.

Clean Sheet Rankings

Fulham (double)

Chelsea (double)

Man City

Sunderland

Birmingham

Tottenham

Hull (double)

West Ham

Liverpool

Burnley

Aston Villa

Arsenal

Wigan

Everton

Stoke

Wolves

Portsmouth (double)

Man Utd

Blackburn

Bolton

Fulham's defensive fixtures this week aren't far off the equivalent of United's double gameweek in week 22 that lead to huge returns from the likes of Rooney and Valencia. Fulham have conceded just 6 goals at home this season and welcome two opponents (Villa and Portsmouth) this week, one of whom is average away from home (1.2 GPG) and one who aspires to be average (0.5 GPG). The strength of these fixtures, along with their favourable upcoming fixtures make Fulham defenders a must buy this week, and I would even consider paying 4 points to bring someone in if your other options aren't good.

Captain Picks

Frank Lampard

Nicolas Anelka

Didier Drogba

Steven Gerrard

Carlos Tevez

Wayne Rooney

Cesc Fabregas

Florent Malouda

Stephen Hunt

Bobby Zamora

With United and Arsenal players looking less appealing than normal I would either back my Chelsea players on a double gameweek or roll the dice with someone like Stephen Hunt who also plays twice. For midfielders who can contribute in several ways, it's hard to go wrong captaining a player on a double gameweek as you give you a great chance to get double digits from your leader. Drogba is due to be back after Cote D'Ivoire early departure from the ACN but stay tuned this week for the latest on this as there is a good chance he could wind up on the bench for at least the Burnley game.

Stay tuned to plfantasy during the week for all the latest injury news and why not post your transfer and lineup issues below

Fulham have a double gameweek against Villa and Portsmouth at Craven Cottage so I'm thinking of bringing in Damien Duff and Aaron Hughes at the expense of Antonio Valencia and Spurs'(not Hull's) Michael Dawson.

The following week (GW 25) I intend to buy back Valencia in time for the Pompey match.

I'm predicting that Valencia won't do much against AR at the Emirates Stadium, while M. Dawson may even get a cleanie against Birmingham.

Am I on the right track? Do you think it's worth losing the 4 points for Fulham's double?

Ryan - Baird has been getting plenty of playing time for Fulham. He's definitely the cheapest He's been in my side for a few weeks now. unfortunately Fulham haven't produced since I brought him in. For just 4.3 million he's fantastic value for the double gameweek.

My midfield consists of Fabregas, Jack Collinson, N'Zogbia, David Dunn and K.P. Boateng. I will start four of them. Who should sit? I also have 4m in the bank so I could upgrade Cesc to Lamps or one of the rest for the likes of Joe Cole, Malouda, Duff, or Murphy. Honestly, I feel like the Chelsea midfield is a bit of a crapshoot, but was intrigued by how all over the place Cole was in the last match. Does this continue w/ the return of Drogs? Should I save my money and upgrade Bent, Tevez, or Rooney to Drogba? Kind of alot of questions. Thanks for your ideas.

Andrew - I already have Baird. Like you, since I bought him Fulham has been underperforming. Based solely on past results, it appears that Fulham is less likely to keep clean sheets away from Cottage (9 goals conceded in the last 4 matches).

Smalling is a bit of a gamble because he might start on the bench. However, with Konchesky injured for an indefinite period of time, Smalling may well be his temporary replacement. This adds to my Smalling-Hughes dilemma.

Craig B - You should either bench Dunn or N'Zogbia. I have N'Zogbia but I'm not sure if he can perform against Everton who've recently returned to their winning ways.

I think getting Lamps is the way to go. I'm not so sure about the other Chealsea midfielders as they tend to be inconsistent.

Yes the Drog is one to keep close tabs on. It would be good to start planning ahead and saving up funds to bring in Drogba when he shows signs of his old self. Having said all that, Bent and Tevez are fairly consistent and chip in with the occasional goal/assist. Rooney performs in batches, so once he loses steam, ditch him for Drogba.

Dre - Drogba is out so Anelka and Lampard should be the transfer targets/captains this week.

Ruan - Fulham are my favourite defensive pick of the week and Hughes is a great option to bring in. I think Duff over Valencia is also a useful move providing your squad is good enough to burn two transfers (by getting Valencia back next week). Also consider if you will lose any cash by selling Valencia and bringing him back. For a 4 point hit I might just stick with Valencia, though I would certainly pay 4 points for a Fulham defender.

Ryan - I think Smalling is an option if your desperate for cash but I totally agree with Andrew that Baird is probably a safer choice for just 0.3m.

Craig - Dunn is injured so you should sit him or transfer him out this week. I love Drogba and will be bringing him back when he is fit and ready to go. He is a clear upgrade over Bent and probably Tevez while I like his value better than Rooney in the long term.

Mish - definately Sorensen in net in my view. Blackburn are pretty poor away from home and face a West Ham side that can score goals at home. On matchup Z'Zogbia has the best game as Milner and Modric travel to tough grounds to score at (Craven Cottage and St Andrews). Milner is tough to drop so Id go with him and probably NZogbia based on matchup and form.

Thanks for all the posts guys, hope your seasons are going well. The double gameweeks are going to be key so I will set these out in a separate post asap.

Dre - your team looks awesome and I think you're starting the right players. The only move I could suggest would be to bring in a budget Fulham defender (eg Baird) for the week if you havent used your transfer yet.

Jared - I like Fulham slightly more than Chelsea this week purely because Chelsea have to travel twice where as Fulham stay at home where they are so solid. Chelsea's opponents average 1.4 and 1.3 GPG at home while Chelsea are giving up 1.0 GPG on the road. The average stats would therefore suggest that they will probably concede in one the games. Nevertheless they are a great option this week and 2 clean sheets is definately possible.

My concern with Chelsea is that they have devleloped an Arsenal like tendency to concede when then they are easily winning (like in the Sunderland game). Hopefully they can put this habit behind them and get 2 clean sheets this week.

Chris - Thanks for your advice! I already have Baird, so I ended up buying Smalling and Duff by selling M. Dawson and N'Zogbia whom I'll buy back in time for Wigan's GW 26 double. I decided to keep Valencia because I had a hunch that since Rooney usually scores against Arsenal, Valencia could be involved in a goal or two.